1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a door hinge having an elastomerically controlled check feature.
2. Disclosure Information
Door hinge assemblies suitable for use with higher weight, manually operable doors such as those found on motor vehicles are usually equipped with a checking device allowing the door to be temporarily stopped at one or more intermediate positions in its swing from the open to the closed position and vice versa. These check devices have taken a variety of forms, the most common being that in which a spring loaded locking arm has a series of detenting depressions engageable with a roller. An example of such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,694,764. An example of another arrangement in which a hold open lever on one hinge member is biased into engagement with a detent roller on another hinge member by a compression spring is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,596. This hinge as well as the previously described unit suffers from shortcomings engendered by the use of steel springs to bias check arms or hold open levers because such springs are noisy in their operation and subject to damage from corrosion. Another disadvantage of the hinge unit disclosed in the '596 patent resides in the fact that the two hinge leaves are not readily separable. This is important in the context of automobile manufacturing inasmuch as it is frequently preferable to utilize a hinge unit which permits one leaf to be attached to the door and the second leaf to be attached to the hinge pillar of the vehicle so that only the hinge pin need be inserted to affix the door to the vehicle during the production process.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,192 discloses a door hinge unit including a check arm mounted and biased by means of a metallic torsion spring. This hinge unit would normally be expected to produce noise in a similar manner to other hinge units using metallic springs. There is some question, too, regarding the suitability of this hinge unit for assembly processes needing a separable hinge unit.
U.S Pat. No. 4,090,273 discloses a detent for a mechanical linkage or hinge having a four-sided rotatable cam follower abutting a spring loaded linkage. Because the cam follower rotates about a bearing pin which would be under extremely high unit loading during operation of the device, it would be expected that this system would be subject to excessive wear at the pivot which could cause malfunctions of the hinge as well as noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,759 discloses an over-center hinge for thin-walled doors of cabinets in which a molded plastic element having a tongue directly contacts one leaf in the area of its pivot so as to hold the cabinet door closed.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,000,049 discloses a plastic hinge molded of thermoplastic material and including detents formed by the hinge pintle and corresponding pivot sockets. This hinge is not susceptible to disassembly following its manufacture.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a door hinge having a check which is biased by an elastomeric element which element is easily replaced if it is damaged and which provides quiet operation for the hinge assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a check assembly in a hinge which has lift-off capability to permit ready assembly of the hinge at any time following its manufacture.